After 40 years of bass club fishing you would think I would have culled down my tackle to some essentials. I have not been one to go wild over new lures for many years. I don’t rush out to buy something just because a big tournament was won with it. But I do usually have 16 rods on my deck ready to use in a tournament since I don’t like to stop and re-tie. If it is on my deck ready to use I am more likely to pick it up and give it a try.

Still, I often use only three or four rods in an eight hour tournament. If something works early I stick with it. And if fishing is tough, like it usually is for me, I cast my confidence baits over and over.

If I had to limit myself to only a couple of rods and a tackle box with 16 items in it, the following list is what I would carry. I have distilled all my baits to this list and this is what I carry if I don’t go in my boat. And the 16 rods on my deck are usually rigged with each of them, ready to use.

1. JJs Magic – I always dip the tails of my worms and trailers in Chartruese but red and blue allow you to change colors or highlight plastic baits quickly and the clear and all the colors add a strong garlic scent.

2. Bitsy Bug jigs – I have a box full of three sixteenths and one quarter jigs in both green pumpkin, for clear water and black and blue for stained water.

3. Zoom Creepy Crawler trailers – Green pumpkin for the brown jigs, blue for the black and blue jigs. And I always dip the tails in chartreuse JJs Magic in both colors

4. Spinnerbait – I like a three eights ounce bait with a gold willow leaf and a silver Colorado blade, with white and chartreuse skirt for all around fishing. But I also carry heavier baits for fishing deeper.

5 Rico –My go-to topwater bait is the small Rico – I think it is the best popper on the market.

6. Buzzbait – I keep a variety of one eight to half ounce buzzbaits in various colors for fishing topwater, especially when cover keeps me from throwing the Rico

7. Zoom Mag 2 worms – I fish the redbug color both Texas and Carolina rigged, depending on cover and depth

8. Owner hooks – Sharp and tough the 3/0 is the size I use for Trick and Mag 2 worms, and have some 1/0 if I got to a smaller worm

9. Sinkers – a variety of weights, from my usual 3/16hs for Texas rig to half ounce for
Carolina rigs to lighter and heavier for different conditions and depths

10. Deep running crankbaits – I like the Norman Little N for medium depth and the DD22N for deep dredging. Shad colors for clearer water, chartreuse and blue for stained

11. Jig head – shaky heads – One of my go-to baits when fishing is tough. I use a 3/16ths ounce most of the time but will tie on a 1/8th for fishing rocks and a slower fall

12. Trick worm – A floating white trick worm with a 3/0 hook will draw strikes when the fish are shallow and want a subtle, slow falling bait.

13. Netbait T-Max worms – A Bamabug color is almost always on my shaky heads, but I will go to a watermelon red in clear water

14. JIgging spoon = Jigging spoons will catch fish year round, not just in the winter. I got a 7.6 pounder in a July tournament at Oconee several years ago. I like a gold Hopkins Shorty for most of my jigging

15. Spro Popping Frog – for fishing heavy grass, a frog colored bait allows you to fish the heaviest cover

16. Senkos – Nothing beats the wiggle of a weightless Senko falling under a dock or around cover. I rig it wacky style if cover allows, or Texas style with a 3/0 hook. They skip under docks great, too.

All these baits work for me. What are your favorites?